STOCKBRIDGE — Stockbridge officials say they have received 40 applications for the new Police Chief position and plan to fill the position next month.

According to city documents, the police chief will be responsible for “directing, planning, managing and coordinating the activities and operations of the Stockbridge Police Department. The main function of this position is to protect life and property, preserve the peace, prevent crime, detect and arrest violators of the law, and to enforce all federal, state and local laws and ordinances coming under the Department’s jurisdiction.”

The 40 candidates will be evaluated by City Manager David Milliron who will reduce the pool to 10 candidates.

The 10 applicants will be then administered a MORMAC Management Assessment that has been referred to as “an intense 3.5 hour in-basket exercise that includes 121 questions.”

The assessments will reportedly only be identified by the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security Number and reference checks and other preliminary assessments will be conducted. Milliron will reduce the pool to five candidates, which will each be subject to a thorough background investigation.

Milliron will then appoint an assessment board composed of a group of peers in the police profession. The city has said the group will assess the candidates through a structured interview process that includes a written essay. Each candidate will be asked the same questions, allowing the same amount of time for their responses.

The Assessment Board will be allowed the flexibility to ask follow-up questions from the provided answers. Mayor Mark Alarcon along with Milliron will sit in on the interviews.

Following the interviews by the Assessment Board, Milliron will make his recommendations to Alarcon, who will then announce the appointment of police chief and seek confirmation by the Stockbridge City Council.